Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

is a moderately popular sport.

Governing Body

The Lithuanian Rugby Federation (Lietuvos Regbio Federacija) was founded in 1961 and joined the IRB in 1993 after Lithuanian had regained its independence.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) p71 It is responsible for organizing and developing the sport at various levels within the country. Although the union was formed in the 1960s, it was not considered a full-fledged national union until after the breakup of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

History

Soviet Era

Rugby union arrived in Lithuania in the 1960s. The first domestic game was played in 1961. Lithuania was never a stronghold of rugby in the USSR. The game was mainly played in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Lithuania had its own national rugby team in the USSR, but it was not treated as an international side. Republic championship was played since 1963

Post-independence

Rugby is spread across the country with

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

as the sport's stronghold. There are rugby clubs in all major Lithuanian cities. Some smaller towns only have junior teams. The climate in the country hinders the development of the sport, because the ground is frozen for four months of the year. Snow rugby is played in winter. The game has experienced some growth in the independence period particularly following the record-breaking performances by the

Lithuania national rugby union team The Lithuania national rugby union team () represents Lithuania in men's international rugby union competitions. Nicknamed The Knights (''Vytis''), is considered one of the relatively stronger tier 3 teams in European rugby and currently compete ...

in the European Nations Cup. There is some rivalry with neighbours

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

who were the better side in the 1990s. However, in recent years

has dominated the fixtures. Rugby is amateur in Lithuania. The only professional player to have come out of Lithuania is Karolis Navickas who in 2012 signed for

Union Bordeaux Bègles Union Bordeaux Bègles (; ) is a French professional rugby union team playing in the Top 14, the first level of the country's professional league system. They earned their Top 14 place by winning the promotion playoffs that followed the 2010� ...

Women's rugby

Currently there are women's rugby teams in

Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...

, Marijampolė and

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. Another two are forming.

Rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

is the dominant variant. Although Lithuania's women are yet to play test match rugby, they have been playing international sevens rugby since 2005. (Current playing record).

Competitions

The main national competition is the Lithuanian Rugby Championship, currently disputed by 7 teams in the I Group. They are: * Vairas-Jupoja

* Baltrex Šiauliai * RK Šiauliai * Ąžuolas

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

* Tauras-VRA

* Kuršiai

* Stats- Ķekava (from

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

)

References

External links

IRB Lithuania page

Official webpage

REGBIS LIETUVOJE

Lithuania dreaming of 2011 Rugby World Cup, AFP story published by rugbyweek.com {{Rugby union in Europe Rugby union in Lithuania,